The Rowan Brothers
Crazy People

Peter Rowan
Reggaebilly

Peter, Chris, and Lorin Rowan are pioneers in the field of progressive
bluegrass. On their latest album Crazy People, the trio — with a little
help from friends such as Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, and Flaco Jimenez —
incorporates the genre’s traditional instrumentation, layering tight vocals over
a bed of acoustic guitar, bass, violin, mandolin, and dobro, but the resulting
sound strays pretty far from standard bluegrass fare. In fact, it’s all over the
map. Beginning with a bit of Tin Pan Alley-pop, the group shimmies its way
through the calypso-beat of Don’t Pick the Blossom Before the Flower Grows
and gleefully swings its way through the jazzy In 1999. Both Pretty
Senorita and a splendid remake of Free Mexican Airforce show off the
ensemble’s penchant for Latin-tinged tunes, while on Red Rockin’ Chair,
the Rowans ride within the intoxicating slipstream of a New Orleans-baked
groove.

Peter Rowan’s solo outing Reggaebilly, isn’t quite as diverse a set,
though it does take a similar "turn it inside-out" approach to bluegrass. The
result isn’t necessarily something that’s all that new as the music sounds an
awful lot like a collaboration among Jackson Browne, Bruce Cockburn, and David
Lindley. Forget that, however, and just know that it works quite well. Recorded
in Jamaica at the legendary Tuff Gong Studios, Rowan involved some of the area’s
best studio artists — including ex-Wailer Chinna Smith — in re-crafting a pair
of standards (Little Maggie and The Cuckoo Bird) as well as a
batch of his own newly penned folk songs. Rather than leave the island influence
completely intact, he then asked Nashville luminaries Jerry Douglas, Eddie
Adcock, Stuart Duncan, Bill Holden, and Bryn Bright to augment the material,
giving it a gloriously earthy undertone. Whether grooving on the smooth sailing
instrumental Sky Dancer or the gentle lilt of I Don’t Want to Live
Without Your Love, Rowan couldn’t sound more relaxed and at home in guiding
his supporting cast through their sunny supplication.